Right hates Jews for being Jewish, Left hates Jews because of Israel

In England today, there are various streams of negative Jewish sentiment. These are generally termed anti-semitic sentiments. But since the angles of the sentiment are often very different, it confuses the outside observer. This is not a new phenomenon. However, it is a new updated 21st century version.

Whereas in the past, people would have no problem saying that they simply don’t like Jews, today, most people just point their anti-Jewish arrows towards Israel. On the other hand, the age-old plain anti-Jewish hatred is alive and well in England too. Some things never do change at all.

The Jeremy Corbyn Phenomenon

In the United States of America, there are a few Congressman and Congresswomen with strong anti-Israel sentiments. However, they have no chance – at least at this stage – of reaching a point of party leadership. They are relegated to the party fringe – even by the Democratic leadership. Jeremy Corbyn is very close to the pinnacle of leadership in England. And he is quite open about his opinions about Israel. He is exactly the type of leader who’s views can be characterized as classical anti-semitic. This kind of a leader should scare the living daylights out of every decent Briton. However, that is not the case today. Perhaps that is the scariest thing of all. In the United States, nobody with the opinions of Corbyn could climb the ladder. There would be a grass-roots revolt against such leadership. Evidently, in England, some old traditions from the Middle Ages are still alive and well.